Growing Up, American Style
Author:
National Constitution Center staff
About this Lesson
This lesson, which includes a pre-lesson and post-lesson, is intended to be used in
conjunction with the National Constitution Center’s Growing Up, American Style
program. Together, they provide students with first-hand experience about how life has
changed for children living in the United States, specifically with respect to child labor.
In this lesson, students begin by learning about child labor practices in the 1800s and
early 1900s. In preparation for the NCC program, they study the photographs of Lewis
W. Hine and analyze what his body of work reveals about child labor practices in the
U.S. during this time period.
After the program, students focus on current child labor regulations in the U.S., first by
learning about the guidelines established by the Fair Labor Standards Act and then by
reading newspaper articles about recent violations of child labor laws.
Designed for students in grade 9-12, this lesson takes approximately four or five class
periods from beginning to end.
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Background
Grade(s) Level
9-12
Classroom Time
Two 45-minute class periods (prelesson)
Two or three 45-minute periods
(post-lesson)
Handouts
A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words student worksheet
Timeline: Child Labor Laws in the
U.S.
True or False? Current Child Labor
Regulations in the U.S. student
worksheet
Current Child Labor Regulations in
the U.S.
Phoenix McDonald's fined for child
labor violations
Raid leads to Iowa filing child labor
charges
Child labor going largely unchecked
Michigan fruit, vegetable farms fined
for child labor and working condition
violations
Constitutional Connections
The lives of children in the United States have not always
been what they are today. In the 1800s and early 1900s,
it was much more common for school-age children to
spend long days working, whether as farmhands in their
parents’ fields, “newsies” (children who sold newspapers)
on city streets, or machine operators in industrial factories.
In addition to not receiving much formal schooling,
children often worked long hours in unsafe conditions and
for relatively little pay.
As a result, a child labor movement began to grow in the
U.S., beginning in the mid-1800s, when Massachusetts
became the first state to pass a law requiring that children
under the age of 15 who worked in factories had to
receive formal schooling for at least three months each
year. By the end of the 19th century, other states had
followed suit, but these laws were not enforced
consistently.
In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee formed,
meaning that a campaign to reform child labor practices
began on a national level. Photographer Lewis W. Hine
spent many years documenting child labor practices
through his work for the Committee. In the early 1900s,
Congress passed two laws regulating child labor
practices, but the Supreme Court declared both laws to be
unconstitutional.
In 1938, during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration,
Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which
established the following guidelines for child labor:
children needed to be at least 14 years old to work after
school, 16 to work during the school day, and 18 to
perform dangerous work, like mining. Exceptions were
made, however, for agricultural work and some family
businesses.
The Bill of Rights
Today, child labor is not as widespread a problem in the
U.S. as it was in the 1800s and early 1900s. But there are
still many instances of child labor abuses in the country,
particularly among migrant workers, many of whom have children who work alongside
them. Child labor abuses also remains a significant issue for some American
companies with factories located abroad, often in countries that do not have child labor
laws.
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Objectives
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Learn about child labor practices in the U.S. during the 1800s
and early 1900s;
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Analyze how the photographs of Lewis W. Hine document child
labor practices during this time period;
Understand current child labor regulations in the U.S. as
established by the Fair Labor Standards Act; and
Examine how recent instances of child labor abuse in the U.S.
have violated these regulations.
Standards
8.1.9.A: Compare patterns of continuity and change over time, applying context of
events.
8.3.9.C: Analyze how continuity and change have impacted the United States.
 Belief systems and religions
 Commerce and industry
 Technology
 Politics and government
 Physical and human geography
 Social organizations
8.3.9.D: Interpret how conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations have
impacted the growth and development of the U.S.
 Ethnicity and race
 Working conditions
 Immigration
 Military conflict
 Economic stability
Activity
Pre-Lesson
1. Begin the lesson by asking students to write down a list of everything they did
yesterday, starting with when they woke up and ending with when they went to
bed. If yesterday was not a school day, use the most recent school day instead.
Encourage students to be as specific as possible in writing down how they spent
their time, including how long they spent on each activity. Activities may include
the following: going to school, studying, spending time with friends, working at a
part-time job, going to a club meeting after school, eating dinner with their
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families, reading, watching TV, playing video games, doing their household
chores, taking a shower, etc.
2. Once students have completed their lists, ask volunteers to share their lists with
the rest of the class. Lead a brief discussion about how students spent their
days by asking the following questions:
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What did you spend the majority of your time doing?
Which activities did you enjoy the most? The least?
Which activities did you do by choice? Which did you have to do? Why?
If you were younger, how do you think your day would have been
different? What about if you were older?
What similarities do you notice among all of your lists? Why do you think
this is?
What differences do you notice among all of your lists? Why do you think
this is?
3. Emphasize that, while no two students spent their days in exactly the same
ways, all of them spent a significant portion of their time in school. This is
understandable because most children between the ages of 14 and 18 are
expected to attend school, whether they go to public, private, or parochial
schools. Many years ago, however, this was not necessarily the expectation that
society had for teenagers. For many children of high-school age (and much
younger), a typical day involved working, not going to school. Review the
following information with students:
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As the U.S. became a more industrialized (machine-driven) society in the
1800s, child labor became more widespread, largely because children
worked for less money and were less likely to strike. Before this period,
many children had worked on their parents’ farms, but industrial work was
often more grueling and dangerous for children than farm work.
By the 1900s, children worked in many different types of industries,
including mines, glass factories, agriculture, textiles, and canneries. They
also delivered newspapers, worked as messengers, and sold goods on
the street. Many children worked extremely long hours (12-18 hours a
day) for little money. Their working conditions were often dirty or
dangerous and caused them to contract illnesses. Child laborers often
had to sacrifice their schooling in order to work.
By the 1900s, many states had laws regulating child labor. For example,
Massachusetts passed a law in 1836 requiring that children under the age
of 15 who worked had to receive formal schooling for at least three
months each year. In 1842, Massachusetts passed a second law limiting
a child’s work day to 10 hours. (It’s worth putting this law into perspective
for your students. While many adults in the U.S. no longer work solely
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a 9 to 5 workday is still only eight hours!). But,
states did not necessarily enforce their child labor laws consistently.
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4. Explain that many people in the U.S., particularly in the Northern states, were
opposed to child labor by the end of the 1800s and began advocating for reform.
Some people expressed their outrage by documenting child labor practices so
that others would understand the types of conditions that young children were
working in. One such person was photographer Lewis W. Hine, who spent
several years photographing children working in a range of settings, from cotton
mills in Georgia to coal mines in Pennsylvania.
Have students break up into pairs and look at The History Place, a website that
has compiled dozens of Hine’s photographs, including his original captions
(http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/). Distribute copies of the
student worksheet, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, and have them
answer the questions as they look at the website.
When students are finished, discuss the questions and students’ reactions to
looking at the photographs. Possible answers include:
1. What types of jobs did children in the early 1900s have? (They worked in
cotton mills, coal mines, glass factories, canning factories, on farms, and
on city streets selling newspapers and other goods.)
2. How would you describe the children’s appearances? (Many of them
looked like they did not bathe frequently; their clothing was often torn and
ragged; many of the children were young, small and frail, etc.)
3. What can you conclude about working conditions from looking at the
children and reading the captions? (Child laborers worked very long days
for little money; they worked all hours of the day; they worked under
dangerous conditions; many of them became ill because of their work,
etc.)
4. From reading the captions, why do you think most of these children
worked? (They had to work in order to help support their families; some of
them wanted to work in order to earn extra money for themselves or for
their families; everyone around them was also working; etc.)
5. Why do you think the first set of photographs is titled “Faces of Lost
Youth”? (Many of the children were extremely young and, instead of
enjoying childhood and attending school, they were working long hours.)
6. What surprises you about the lives these children led? (Answers will vary,
but students are likely to be surprised by how young some of the children
are, how dangerous some of the jobs were, how long the hours were, the
amount of money children earned, their lack of education, the types of
activities they engaged in outside of work, like smoking, gambling and
prostitution, etc.)
7. What do you learn from looking at these photographs that you might not
understand otherwise? (Answers will vary.)
5. After the discussion, have each student choose one photograph and caption for a
free-writing exercise (More than one student can choose the same photograph).
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Provide students with the following prompt, and give them at least 15 minutes to
write. Remind them that the photographs can be enlarged in order to see details
better.
Prompt: Imagine that you are the child (or one of the children) in this
photograph. If you still had energy left after working all day, what do you think
you would write in your journal? Using what you observe in the photograph and
the information provided in the caption, write an entry from your child’s
perspective.
6. To conclude the lesson, invite students to read their journal entries aloud to the
class.
Post-Lesson
1. After students have participated in the Growing Up, American Style program,
they will be more familiar with how life has changed for children in the U.S. over
the past 200 years. Toward the end of the program, students will learn about
how state and federal laws began to regulate child labor practices in the late
1800s and early 1900s. Distribute copies of Timeline: Child Labor Laws in the
U.S. so that students know when certain laws were passed, what they regulated,
etc.
2. Explain to students that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was first
passed in 1938, continues to exist today, though it has been revised and updated
many times. The FLSA establishes standards for minimum wage, overtime pay,
recordkeeping and child labor for employees working in the private sector and in
federal, state and local governments. For example, as of July 24, 2009, the
minimum wage for nonexempt workers is $7.25 per hour.
The U.S. Department of Labor provides a thorough overview of the FLSA on its
website (http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm). It also provides answers to
frequently asked questions about current child labor regulations
(http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/toc.htm#cl).
3. In order to help students understand some of the FLSA’s current child labor
regulations, distribute copies of the student worksheet, True or False? Current
Child Labor Regulations in the U.S., and have them answer the 10 questions.
Review the correct answers with students and provide copies of Current Child
Labor Regulations in the U.S. to students.
4. In order for students to understand how much child labor regulations in the U.S.
have changed since the early 1900s, lead a discussion, using the following
questions as a guide.
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Think back to Lewis W. Hine’s photographs of child laborers in the early
1900s. What types of child labor practices did Hine document that would
now be considered illegal under FLSA regulations?
Which, if any, types of child labor practices did Hine document that would
still be considered legal under FLSA regulations?
How do the current child labor regulations in the U.S. affect your life? (For
example: students may be paid to babysit, which is permitted under the
FLSA)
Can you think of violations of child labor regulations that you have either
experienced directly or watched other children experience? If so, what
happened?
5. Explain to students that, even though the FLSA establishes much stricter
regulations for child labor than those that existed 100 years ago, there are still
instances each year when employers in the U.S. violate these regulations. In
addition, certain types of child laborers, like the children of migrant workers
(workers who move frequently from one region of the country to another in order
to find employment, often involving harvesting crops), are not subject to these
regulations.
Divide students into four equal groups. Distribute copies of one of the following
articles to each group. Make sure that each group reads a different article; the
full text of each article is provided in the handouts section of the lesson plan.
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Phoenix McDonald's fined for child labor violations (The Baltimore Sun)
Raid leads to Iowa filing child labor charges (The Associated Press)
Child labor going largely unchecked (The Charlotte Observer)
Michigan fruit, vegetable farms fined for child labor and working condition
violations (The Grand Rapids Press)
Provide students with 10-15 minutes to read their articles and discuss them with
their groups. As they discuss, students should prepare a brief presentation for
the class by answering the following questions about their articles:
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What are the 5W’s of this news event (Who? What? When? Where?
Why?)?
Which specific FLSA child labor regulations did the employer violate?
How?
What, if any, consequences occurred for the employer?
Conclude the lesson by having each group share its presentation with the rest of
the class.
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Further Resources
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http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/ (The History Place’s
collection of photographs and accompanying captions by Lewis W. Hine)
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html
(Child Labor Public Education Project)
http://www.dol.gov/whd/childlabor.htm (The U.S. Department of Labor’s website
about current child labor laws and regulations)
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/toc.htm#cl (The U.S. Department of
Labor’s answers to questions about current child labor laws and questions)
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words:
What can we learn about child labor from the work of Lewis W. Hine?
As you look at The History Place’s website
(http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/), answer the following questions
about Lewis W. Hine’s photographs.
1. What types of jobs did children in the early 1900s have?
2. How would you describe the children’s appearances?
3. What can you conclude about working conditions from looking at the children and
reading the captions?
4. From reading the captions, why do you think most of these children worked?
5. Why do you think the first set of photographs is titled “Faces of Lost Youth”?
6. What surprises you about the lives these children led?
7. What do you learn from looking at these photographs that you might not
understand otherwise?
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Timeline: Child Labor Laws in the U.S.
1832: The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen
condemn child labor because it endangers their health and well-being.
1836: Massachusetts passes a law requiring that children under the age of 15 who
work in factories must attend school for at least three months each year.
1842: Massachusetts passes a law limiting children’s work days to 10 hours.
1899: By the end of the 19th century, 28 states have passed laws that regulate child
labor.
1916: Congress passes the first federal law that prohibits transporting goods across
state lines if the minimum age laws for employment have been violated.
1918: The U.S. Supreme Court declares the new federal law unconstitutional.
1922: Congress passes a second national child labor law, but the Supreme Court again
declares it unconstitutional.
1924: Congress proposes a constitutional amendment that declares child labor to be
illegal, but the states do not ratify it.
1938: Congress passes the Fair Labor Standards Act, which establishes that children
need to be at least 14 years old to work after school, 16 to work during the school day,
and 18 to perform dangerous work, like mining. Exceptions were made, however, for
agricultural work and some family businesses.
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True or False?
Current Child Labor Regulations in the U.S.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes regulations for child labor in the
United States. For each of the statements below, decide if you think it is true or false,
and circle your answers.
1. The minimum age for most non-agricultural work is 16. True or False
2. In addition to agricultural work, there are other exceptions to the minimum age
requirement, including: delivering newspapers; performing in radio, television,
movie or theatrical productions; working in some businesses owned by parents;
and performing babysitting or other chores in a private home. True or False
3. Children of any age may be hired to collect evergreens or make evergreen
wreaths. True or False
4. For workers under the age of 20, minimum wage for the first 90 days of
employment is $5.00 per hour. After 90 days, minimum wage must be the same
as the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. True or False
5. Workers who are 14 or 15 years old must work during non-school hours. True or
False
6. Workers who are 14 or 15 years old cannot work more than five hours in a school
day. True or False
7. Workers who are 14 or 15 years old cannot work after 10 p.m. True or False
8. The FLSA does not limit the hours or times of day for workers who are 16 years
and older. True or False
9. Workers who are 17 years and older may perform any job, whether hazardous or
not. True or False
10. The FLSA requires that children get work permits or work papers before working.
True or False
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Current Child Labor Regulations in the U.S.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes regulations for child labor in the
United States. Below is information about these regulations.
What is the youngest age at which a person can be employed?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets 14 as the minimum age for most nonagricultural work. However, at any age, youth may deliver newspapers; perform in radio,
television, movie, or theatrical productions; work in businesses owned by their parents
(except in mining, manufacturing or hazardous jobs); and perform babysitting or perform
minor chores around a private home. Also, at any age, youth may be employed as
homeworkers to gather evergreens and make evergreen wreaths.
Different age requirements apply to the employment of youth in agriculture.
Many states have enacted child labor laws, some of which may have a minimum age for
employment which is higher than the FLSA. Where both the FLSA and state child labor
laws apply, the higher minimum standard must be obeyed.
Must young workers be paid the minimum wage?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires payment of at least the federal minimum
wage to covered, nonexempt employees. However, a special minimum wage of $4.25
per hour applies to employees under the age of 20 during their first 90 consecutive
calendar days of employment with an employer. After 90 days, the Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay the full federal minimum wage.
Other programs that allow for payment of less than the full federal minimum wage apply
to workers with disabilities, full-time students, and student-learners employed pursuant
to sub-minimum wage certificates. These programs are not limited to the employment of
young workers.
When and how many hours can youth work?
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the minimum age for employment in nonagricultural employment is 14. Hours worked by 14- and 15-year-olds are limited to:
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Non-school hours;
3 hours in a school day;
18 hours in a school week;
8 hours on a non-school day;
40 hours on a non-school week; and
hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (except from June 1 through Labor Day, when evening
hours are extended to 9 p.m.)
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Youth 14 and 15 years old enrolled in an approved Work Experience and Career
Exploration Program (WECEP) may be employed for up to 23 hours in school weeks
and 3 hours on school days (including during school hours).
The FLSA does not limit the number of hours or times of day for workers 16 years and
older.
Many states have enacted child labor laws as well. In situations where both the FLSA
child labor provisions and state child labor laws apply, the higher minimum standard
must be obeyed.
What kinds of work can youth perform?
Regulations governing youth employment in non-agricultural jobs differ somewhat from
those pertaining to agricultural employment. In non-agricultural work, the permissible
jobs, by age, are as follows:
1. Workers 18 years or older may perform any job, whether hazardous or not;
2. Workers 16 and 17 years old may perform any non-hazardous jobs; and
3. Workers 14 and 15 years old may work outside school hours in various nonmanufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs
Fourteen is the minimum age for most non-agricultural work. However, at any age,
youth may deliver newspapers; perform in radio, television, movie, or theatrical
productions; work in businesses owned by their parents (except in mining,
manufacturing or on hazardous jobs); perform babysitting or perform minor chores
around a private home. Also, at any age, youth may be employed as homeworkers to
gather evergreens and make evergreen wreaths.
Different age requirements apply to the employment of youth in agriculture.
Must a youth have a work permit to work?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require that youth get work permits or
working papers to get a job. Some states do require work permits prior to getting a job.
School counselors may be able to advise if a work permit is needed before getting a job.
Source: The U.S. Department of Labor
(http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/toc.htm#cl)
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Phoenix McDonald's fined for child labor violations
By: Mary Gail Hare
The Baltimore Sun
July 13, 2010
A McDonald's franchise owner in Baltimore County must pay nearly $30,500 in back wages and
child labor penalties because he failed to pay overtime and broke child labor laws, according to
the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department reported that Bill Taylor, president of B&D Taylor Inc., which owns the
McDonald's on Sweet Air Road in Phoenix, has paid $20,502.05 in back wages to five workers,
two of whom are still in his employ. The workers were not compensated for overtime hours,
federal officials said. The company will also pay $9,990 in penalties for violating restrictions on
the hours minors can work and tasks they can perform, officials said. Taylor could not be
reached for comment Tuesday.
Joanna P. Hawkins, deputy regional director at the U.S. Department of Labor offices in
Philadelphia, said an investigation found 14- and 15-year-old employees working longer than
three hours on a school day and working late into the evening. The cutoff for those workers is 7
p.m. during the school year and 9 p.m. during the summer, Hawkins said.
A release from the department also said the fast-food restaurant violated safety standards by
allowing nine minors to operate a deep fryer, a task that is prohibited by child labor laws. The
restaurant's manually operated fryer requires the employees to cook baskets of food in hot oil,
according to the department.
"All of the minors that utilized the fryer did so at the direction of various store managers as well
as senior staff members and on a regular and recurring basis," Hawkins said.
Minors may not work more than three hours on school days, eight hours on non-school days
and no more than 18 hours in school weeks or 40 hours during non-school weeks, according to
labor laws.
During the probe, investigators with the department's Wage and Hour Division also found that
restaurant employees were paid straight time, rather than overtime, for time worked in excess of
a 40-hour week.
Federal law requires employers to pay at least the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an
hour, for a standard 40-hour week, as well as 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours in
excess of that standard. The law requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees'
wages, hours and other conditions of employment.
"Fast food restaurants like McDonald's have a legal responsibility to properly compensate
workers, as well as ensure that any employed minors work appropriate hours in allowable
occupations," said John Kelly, acting director of the Wage and Hour Division's Baltimore District
Office, in a press release Tuesday.
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Raid leads to Iowa filing child labor charges
The Associated Press
September 9, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa — The owner and managers of the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking
plant were charged Tuesday with more than 9,000 misdemeanors alleging they hired minors
and had children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment such as circular saws and meat
grinders.
Two employees were also charged in federal court. The state and federal charges are the first
against operators of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, where nearly 400 illegal immigrant
workers were arrested in May in one of the largest immigration raids in U.S. history.
The complaint filed by the Iowa attorney general’s office said the violations involved 32 illegalimmigrant children under age 18, including seven who were younger than 16. Aside from
handling dangerous equipment, the complaint says children were exposed to dangerous
chemicals such as chlorine solutions and dry ice.
The attorney general’s office said the violations occurred from Sept. 9, 2007, to May 12, 2008,
when the plant was raided by immigration agents.
Charged are the company itself, Agriprocessors Inc.; plant owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin;
former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin; human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer; and
Laura Althouse and Karina Freund, managers in the company’s human resources division.
Each defendant faces 9,311 counts — one for each day a particular violation is alleged for each
worker.
“All of the named individual defendants possessed shared knowledge that Agriprocessors
employed undocumented aliens. It was likewise shared knowledge among the defendants that
many of those workers were minors,” the affidavit said.
Althouse and Freund also face federal immigration charges related to the raid and appeared in
Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Freund was charged with aiding and abetting
harboring undocumented aliens, while Althouse was charged with conspiracy to harbor
undocumented aliens and other counts.
The state charges are simple misdemeanors, each carrying a penalty of up to 30 days in jail and
a $625 fine.
At a news conference Tuesday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said the case is the largest of
its type he’d handled in his 26 years as attorney general.
Chaim Abrams, a manager at the plant, said in a statement that Agriprocessors “vehemently
denies” the allegations and “acted in good faith on the child labor issue.”
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“All of the minors at issue lied about their age in order to gain employment at the company,” he
said. They presented documents stating that they were over 18, he said, and “they knew that, if
they told the truth about their age, they would not be hired.”
But the attorney general’s office said the company encouraged job applicants to submit forged
identification documents that contained false information about their resident status, age and
identity.
Sonia Parras Konrad, an attorney representing more than 20 of the children, said her clients
were as young as 14 when they started working at the plant.
“We don’t need to see any papers to see that someone is a child,” she said. “This was not one
mistake, two mistakes, three mistakes, but many, many mistakes.”
Among the child labor violations were employing a child under age 18 in a meatpacking plant
and employing a child under age 16 who operated power machinery or worked longer hours
than permitted for someone that young.
In addition, the attorney general’s office said, the company’s records also show that employees
were not paid for all overtime worked.
Postville resident Dave Hartley, 50, said it was troubling that the allegations would put the town
back in the spotlight.
“You want things to get back to normal,” Hartley said. “I wouldn’t say it’s turmoil in town, per se,
but people are just wondering what’s going to happen.”
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Child labor going largely unchecked
By: Ames Alexander and Franco Ordonez
The Charlotte Observer
November 10, 2008
Nery Castañeda tackled a job that was never intended for kids his age.
One afternoon last fall, the 17-year-old Guatemala native ran a machine to grind damaged
pallets into mulch. When a co-worker at the Greensboro plant returned from another task, he
didn't see Nery – until he looked inside the shredder.
“A person shouldn't die like this,” said older brother Luis. “…He came with a dream and found
death.”
Decades after the enactment of regulations designed to prevent such tragedies, thousands of
youths still get hurt on American jobs deemed unsafe for young workers. On a typical day, more
than 400 juvenile workers are injured on the job. Once every 10 days, on average, a worker
under the age of 18 is killed, federal statistics show.
Enforcement has waned, despite new evidence that many employers are ignoring child labor
laws. U.S. Department of Labor investigations have dropped by nearly half since fiscal year
2000.
“There are lots of kids being asked to do work that's been prohibited for them – and it's been
prohibited because it's dangerous,” said Carol Runyan, who heads UNC's Injury Prevention
Research Center. “…Our system is failing them.”
More than 3 million youths under age 18 have jobs. Regulations prohibit them from doing a
variety of hazardous jobs, including most meat-processing work.
But last month, at an immigration raid at a House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville,
S.C., six juveniles were among the workers detained. Three young workers told the Observer
they were under 18 when they held jobs at House of Raeford plants requiring them to make
thousands of cuts a day with sharp knives. The company says it requires job applicants to
present identification showing their age, but not all the documentation is accurate.
At Agriprocessors, a large meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, authorities recently charged
owners with thousands of child-labor violations after finding that teenage employees were asked
to use circular saws, clean floors with powerful chemicals and perform other dangerous tasks.
“The raids in Postville and Greenville show that 15- and 16-year-old kids are doing some of the
most dangerous jobs in America,” says Reid Maki of the National Consumers League. “ … It's
time for the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate slaughterhouses and poultry plants.”
A study of 16- and 17-year-old construction workers in North Carolina, published in 2006, found
that more than 80 percent did tasks that were clearly prohibited. A national survey of young
retail and service workers, published in 2007, found that more than half of males and more than
40 percent of females performed prohibited tasks.
Runyan, who co-authored both studies, says much of the blame lies with employers.
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“I suspect there are employers who flagrantly disregard the law,” she said. “And I suspect there
are others who are clueless.”
Little to deter employers
Employers who flout child-labor rules often face few consequences.
Federal law allows a maximum penalty of $11,000 for each violation, but in 2006 the average
penalty was less than $1,000, according to the National Consumers League. Total federal
penalties for child labor violations dropped 29 percent from 2000 to 2007.
Federal child labor laws cover large employers, as well as smaller companies engaged in
interstate commerce. Most states also have their own child labor laws, which usually cover
small employers and impose additional restrictions. But state fines tend to be smaller.
Under N.C. law, the maximum penalty for each violation is $250. When employers fail to ensure
juvenile workers get youth employment certificates, the maximum fine is $50 for each violation.
That “doesn't seem to be a whole lot of deterrent,” says N.C. wage and hour director Jim Taylor,
whose office is in charge of enforcing – but not writing – the state's child-labor laws.
In South Carolina, the maximum penalty for violations is $1,000 per person per job.
Federal labor department officials say much has been done to help improve conditions for
young workers. Alexander Passantino, administrator for the wage and hour division of the U.S.
Department of Labor, told a congressional committee in September that officials have worked to
strengthen child-labor laws, raise public awareness and target industries where young workers
are likely to be killed or injured. The number of youths killed on the job has declined over the
past decade, he noted.
But critics say government has made little progress. Since 2001, injury rates among young
workers have remained virtually flat, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
Witnesses at the recent congressional hearing were asked whether regulators are doing enough
to protect children. Several said the answer was no.
“Much more can and must be done to better protect our young people from hazards and
dangers they confront in the workplace,” testified Sally Greenberg, executive director of the
National Consumers League.
The perils of poultry
Meatpacking plants are among the workplaces where better protections are most needed, child
advocates say. Many of those plants hire illegal immigrants with false papers, excacerbating the
challenge of stopping juveniles from being employed.
In poultry plants, workers are surrounded by dangerous machines and chemicals. And they're
often required to make thousands of cuts with sharp knives each day, work that can leave them
with lacerations and debilitating nerve and muscle problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
But youths are finding work in such plants, the Observer found.
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Elena Luna said she was 16 when she went to work at the Mountaire Farms poultry plant in
Lumber Bridge, N.C. At first, she said, a human resources official told her she wasn't old
enough. But when she returned with a recommendation from a cousin at the plant, the official
asked her whether she could do the work, she said.
“He said, “I don't want to see you in the nursing station or they'll fire me,” she said.
On the processing line, she said, she got little training and worked with a supervisor who often
yelled at her to hurry up.
Making thousands of cuts with dull knives every day, her hands began to hurt. “Sometimes I
couldn't hold the knife,” she said.
Luna, who worked under the name Rosaura, said she often wanted to quit, but endured
because she needed to repay family members from Mexico who financed her trip to the U.S. –
and she thought it was one of the few jobs she could get.
Luna, now 20, said other juveniles also worked at the plant. “I was not the only one,” she said.
“… Everybody knew.”
Mike Tirrell, vice president of operations for Mountaire Farms, said Luna signed paperwork
indicating she was 18 when she was hired in 2005. She was fired about 15 months later, after
company officials discovered false information on her application, Tirrell said.
He said he could not speak to Luna's specific allegations, but noted that the scenario she
described with the human resources official would violate company policy. He disputed that the
company has employed numerous underage workers.
The company participates in a voluntary federal program that helps employers determine
whether job applicants are legally authorized to work in the country. “We take every step that we
can reasonably take to ensure the eligibility of applicants …,” Tirrell said.
Nery's last day
Nery Castañeda lived a healthy life. He loved to play soccer and steered clear of alcohol,
cigarettes and confrontation, his brother Luis said.
In June 2007, he went to work for Pallet Express, a manufacturer in Greensboro with about 80
employees. He presented his ID, which showed he was 17, his brother said.
Several months into the job, he was asked to operate the pallet shredder, a massive machine
that turned damaged pallets into mulch.
On the day of the accident, Nery's co-worker stepped away to get a forklift, Luis said. By the
time the co-worker returned, Castañeda had been devoured by the shredder.
N.C. OSHA cited the company for eight serious violations, including its failure to put required
safety guards on the machine. The agency fined Pallet Express $12,000. The state labor
department has also fined the company $250 for putting a juvenile without a youth employment
certificate in a hazardous job he shouldn't have been doing.
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The family, meanwhile, has filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that the company failed
to provide Nery with the proper safety gear, training and supervision.
Company vice president Lynn Bell said she could not comment on the case because it is still
under investigation.
Luis vividly remembers seeing his brother-in-law's pale face that afternoon in October 2007
when he came to deliver the news that there had been an accident. Luis sank deep into a chair.
“No,” he recalled moaning.
“I didn't believe it,” Luis said. “…He was a kid.”
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Michigan fruit, vegetable farms fined for child labor and working
condition violations
By: Julia Bauer
The Grand Rapids Press
October 28, 2009
Two blueberry growers, Jawor Brothers in Ravenna and Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Co. in
South Haven, have been fined a total of $2,584 for child labor violations.
The fines are the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found
children younger than 12, including a 6-year-old in one case, working in the fields.
Tony Marr, general manager for Adkin Blue Ribbon, said the company has strict policies on
allowing children in the field. It is written in English and Spanish and employees must sign it
before they start work.
"We allow no children under 12 in our field," he said. "A couple of kids were out there hanging
out with their parents. It's something we're looking into and reviewing to make sure that doesn't
happen again."
Poor housing conditions also resulted in fines totaling $33,550 for seven fruit and vegetable
growers, including another $4,600 fine for Adkin Blue Ribbon.
Marr said they were surprised by the federal violations because the company meets all state
standards.
"What we're finding out is their standards are different from the state," he said.
He said some outdoor bathrooms were too close to the living units, and they didn't have enough
shower heads.
"Everything at the labor camp was corrected within three days of them pointing it out to us," he
said.
Others cited for violating the Migrant Seasonal Worker Protection Act were:
Scherer Fruit Farms, Bloomingdale, $16,700
William Bouwkamp, Solon Township, $4,100
Froehlich Farms, Berrien Center , $850
Three farms with previous violations received fines from the latest investigation, officials said:
Tony Brush Farm, South Haven, $3,400
Berrybrook Enterprises, Dowagiac, $3,000
Schaenfeld Farms, Sodus, $2,200
One area farm, Carini Farms Inc. in West Olive, was fined $750 for "other" violations;
department officials did not elaborate on the problem found there.
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The investigation checked 35 agricultural employers in eight counties -- Berrien, Cass, Kent,
Newago, Ottawa, Oceana, Muskegon, and Van Buren. By county, only Newago and Oceana
were without violations.
Just under half of the farms investigated, 17, had no violations, spokesman Scott Allen said.
The nine farms with more serious violations incurred civil fines, while another nine were issued
warnings.
The housing violations were "intolerable and disappointing," said James Smith, the Detroit
district director for the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division.
"Among the violations we cited were workers living in unlicensed labor camps, with sewage from
a faulty septic system seeping up in close proximity to living units, untreated waste water spilling
out of broken pipes, no hot water for hand washing, and infestation by insects and rodents,"
Smith said in a statement.
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